16 below

I hope that all of you had a great week!! My week was super busy and amazing. This past week was my last week with Elder Brown and we were able to meet with several really cool people but were unable to do as much as we usually would since it was so bitter cold and we were not able to be out for an extended amount of time. The temperature got down to close to 0 degrees with a wind-chill of down to -16 degrees!! We spent most of the first part of the week dropping by and following up with a lot of people that we have been trying to get a hold of. We had a pretty nasty storm roll through on Thursday night and it kind of forced us to go in a little early just to make sure that we were safe. Friday morning we got transfer calls. We knew that Elder Brown would be leaving since he is going home for some medical stuff and we knew that I would be staying unless something really weird happened. Well, President Jacobsen and the Assistants to the president felt like that I needed to be in downtown Grand Rapids instead of covering some of the outlying areas of Grand Rapids that I have been serving in previously. So I got transferred to downtown Grand Rapids and I have been called as the district leader here. They are going to be sending in two other missionaries to take over where I was serving. As a district leader I will be responsible for running weekly district meetings, doing trade-offs with other Elders in my district for training purposes and to help them be the best missionaries they can be, and I will be responsible for making sure that our district is as successful as possible. I am humbled that the Lord and President Jacobsen are putting so much trust in me and allowing me to serve other missionaries. It is always difficult to transfer to a new area, especially after only being in that area for one transfer, but I am glad that it was only a few miles away and I will still be in the same ward! I am a companion with Elder Dunn who is an amazing missionary who just got finished being trained by the previous distinct leader, Elder Elmer. I am so excited to be able to work with Elder Dunn and I know that we are going to do great things here in Grand Rapids. Elder Brown was picked up yesterday so that he would be able to make it to his flight home today so I have been able to spend the last 24 hours with Elder Elmer and Elder Dunn and to be able to get a head start on learning my area!

Not too much else happened this week since the weather didn't allow us to be as productive as we would have liked. But I am so excited to be serving in downtown Grand Rapids. The Lord is about to do amazing things with this area and our distinct is doing amazing things! Here is my new mailing address (and if you have already sent anything to my previous address I will still get it really easily since I am only a few miles away and see those Elders several times a week):

2516 Normandy Dr. 

Apt. 304C

Grand Rapids, MI 49506

Thank you so much for the love and support!! I will include a few pictures from the week!! 

-Elder Bloskas

****I am having technical problems w/ the photos so, I will have to upload those another day.  Sorry!  Kristi Bloskas